i've been on synthroid for 9 years. started at some low dose and...

Your body needs the synthroid. Maybe you are not at the right dose and that is why you are having the chronic fatique. It you haven't been seen by an endicrinologist - maybe they could have some insight.

I have chronic hives and itching with my throid condition almost since the beginning - also around 9 years. It's autoimmune and has nothing to do with if my throid levels are ok or not. I'm in the middle of a bad episode now. I've been on prednisone and a cocktail of antihistimines and various other drugs. Unfortunately I'm starting to experience foot cramps and realized several of the meds I've recently added seem to contribute to these. I'm going to try eating more bananas. Everyone always says the potassium helps leg/foot cramps. Good luck!

i get tested and my levels are good. havent had to change dossage. i purposely missed a day of taking my pill and the next 2 days took 50mg of the recommended 112mg dose. my itching seems to be much better and the aches in my joints is much different. instead of aching deep in my joints just a few select muscles are sore. sort of if i had a goood gym work out. i'm gonna try 50 mg for a few more days and see if this improvment holds true. so far no porbloms. i actually got motivated today to do some side jobs and my mood is improved. but what are the options if this reduced dose works?

iam also on 112mg but cut down my dose in 1/2 i am having bad pain in the neck and the back of my head the 112 made me very hyper so that is y i cut down to 1/2 of that can anyone comment

What you are describing is what MANY people have on Synthroid, including myself, and patients all over are complaining that it's a POOR thyroid treatment being only T4, a storage hormone. Your thyroid, if healthy, produces not just T4, but also T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. There are lots of patients out there who are switching to Armour, which comes from pigs and gives all the above. They are also dosing NOT according to the TSH (which they find to be a lousy lab) but by the elimination of symptoms, which is the most important way to do it anyway! They also check out their free T3, which should be in the upper quarter of the range when all symptoms are gone, and which suppressed the man-made TSH lab. When I switched from Synthroid to Armour, my life made a huge turnaround. There's even a patient website about it all, called stop the thyroid madness. Good luck.

I am a 44 year old woman in FL diagnosed with Grave's Disease 3 years ago. Tried PTU's for 8 months to no avail and finally had radiation (twice) to ablate my thyroid.
When labs said no more thyroid activity, Synthroid began. One year later Cytomel (T3 targeter) began. Huge feelings of being Un-Well began after Sythroid regime...these feelings intensified after adding Cytomel. Current dosaging os 137 mcg of Sythroid and 1/4 of a 25 mcg Cytomel daily, in the morning both on empty stomach...I cannot eat all day anyway...Cytomel makes body warmth, which is nice, and some energy but also creates paranoia and stomach issues and, I suspect, many other things I have been experiencing. I have never tired the Armour but am quite willing. Has anyone here tried Armour T3?
Current issues (in addition to above) are joint pain...began about 8 weeks ago, elbows, wrists and shoulders sharp pains.
3 lesions, resembling shingles, appeared on my abdomen, butt and hand. I took Zovirax and this seemed to help the burn-like blisters go down and no more have appeared. This was last night. I also am serverely B12 deficient (209) and have been on self given home shots for 3 months with labs scheduled for 3 days from now. I am at wit's end with this disease and also have the eye disease with great pressure on both eyes.
I will close now...it's so easy to ramble about the many factors of this disease.

I was diagnosed with Hashimotos (hypothyroid) 18 months ago. About 6 years ago I started having pigment loss on my face and arms and I was diagnosed with Vitiligo and sent to an Endocrinologist. I was told that I was pre-thyroidal and would probably have thyroid problmes in the next few years. About 2 years ago I started gaining weight even though I wasn't eating that much, I was always constipated, my back was itchy, I was always cold and I was very tired unable to focus or concentrate which was making work very difficult. My TSH was at 6.9. My doctors goal is to keep my TSH below 2.0. He started me on 25mg and I've had blood tests almost every 4-6 weeks since then. My dosage has been increased after almost every blood test. I'm at 150 mg now and my blood test last week showed my TSH at 2.9. So its time to increase the dosage again. I can usually tell that my TSH is going up based on my the way I feel. The last two weeks I've been extremely tired and had trouble focusing and concentrating at work again. It usually only takes me a few days at the new dosage to feel better. I've struggled with my weight constantly over the last 18 months. I've had success in the past with Weight Watchers but anytime my TSH is not down around 2.0 it is really hard for me to lose weight. I've been on Weight Watcher this time for 4 weeks and I started losing weight quickly at the beginning and then the weight loss just stopped. That was about the time I started feeling tired again. I have not had any side effects from taking Synthroid and for me it has made a drastic improvement in the way I feel.

hello! my name is Ana, and i have beeb same like you, with so much pain in all my body because the Synthroid medication, i was a dancer and very active woman, i also have not only physical problems,but also emotional, because being with the medication makes you more sensitive to all people around you, and sometimes very angry emotions you can feel with no cause yes?..this condition is sad, and i still looking for the right doctor, the one that understand that taking Synthroid "hurts" it does your body ache all over, i agree with you, if you want to write me my email adress is anagraciela2005@sbcglobal.net i hope you can find a good doctor, and GOD BLESS YOU!

for anyone who has itching, lower back pain, joint pain, bad mood swings because of this, heart beat irregularities, weak arms, legs,etc...i have been having this for 8 years, been on synthroid for 17 years. tried all thyroid meds, all do the same. found amazing relief by taking pain/anti-inflammatory medication"apo-nabumetone" also i have realized going without synthroid for just one day and i have no symptoms. i take synthroid and get symptoms within 1 hour. i am still doing research to find out what is going on. the thyroid meds or maybe how they are absorbed seem to cause inflammatory symptoms

I feel for you. I too have many of your symptoms (joint aches, agression, feeling driven, now energy at night and weird skin break outs). I know its the medication, like you, because if I skip it I feel like my old self again. Of course you can't skip you medication because you'll eventually get sick.
I have tried taking my medication at night in stead of in the morning, this seems to have helped somewhat. It doesn't bother my sleeping at all like I thought it would. How I made the transistion is like this. Each day I took my medication two hours later than the day before until finally I was taking it at night. Try it might help.

Good luck to you, I feel for you.

Dianne

I'm Pam I was diagnosed with HASHIMOTOS in December of 07, I was put on Synthroid and ever since then I have had this weird breakout on my face and chest which I thought was Adult acne. After reading this i'm not so sure. I feel very itchy around my neck and chest all the time. Is there any relief?

I have been on Synthroid for 1 year due to a partial Thyroidectomy and a low TSH. My doctor just increased my dosage to 150mcg and I have been feeling kind of dizzy, like when you have held your breath for a long time. I'm not sure if it is just my body adjusting or if I should be concerned. Anyone have any suggestions?

i finally got the doctor to put me on armour synthroid and so far so good. been getting motivated more and geting things done. also not so angry all the time. still have leg , back, & feet pain but maybe not so much. all in all it's good so far. happy i made the swithch

Hi, I'm male, 55years and diagnosed with Hypo. Im on .25mg of Synthroid and as soon as I statred taking this med I've had weekness in my joints. Is this normal?

Im the same as everyone..everyone here..hypo..placed on synthroid..feeling like crap there after!..Synthroid increased..feeling worse, in fact I can barely get out of bed..joint pain, fibromyalgia, severe shooting breast pain,extreme fatigue, hell Ive even developed.... diagnosed neuoprathy in foot up to knee ( yes, diabetic but I know my body and its not due to my diabetes), I also had surgery for carpal tunnel, I was not at all like this before synthroid when I was hypo. I had adrenal bursts where I would feel good after an increase then worse..I am researching armour and would really appreciate any info if this drug can change me life because I cannot keep going this way.

I have been taking Synthroid for one year now, and occasionally have had episodes of adominal discomfort consisting of bloating, acid reflux, and general stomach discomfort. Does anyone know of a connection between the two, I have been told by my nurse that there isn't one. Thanks.

hi everyone! i am a 30 yr old female diagnosed with hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2002. i developed vitiligo at the age of 8 yrs old (1986), and was told that given family history of thyroid disorders, i probably had an underlying thyroid condition that may come out in several yrs. two years ago i also developed a condition called delayed pressure urticaria (DPU), which is huge painful hives under my skin from pressure to my skin. its a delayed reaction that takes several hours to develop after having pressure to my skin (like wearing bra/waist band too tight, or too much walking, or carring grocery bags in my hands) i am also plagued with idiopathic/stress hives. i have been told by specialists these are linked to the hashimotos. upon developing the dpu, my vitiligo has spread like wild fire. i have deleloped allergies to 99 percent of all foods and enviromental allergies. i also have many symptoms you are all complaining about, especially lower back/neck/back of head pain with no chiropractic relief, stomache/nausea problems, burning feet++, joint pain general all over body pain, i also suffer great mental fog/concentration problems. i am also concerned that these may be side effects of the synthroid (possibly an allergy to it) i was making the mistake of taking my synthroid with my supplements (calcium,vitamin b-50, etc) and i was also taking antacids to relieve the nausea not realizing i was making things worse. i have felt some releif since not mixing these meds, but its still quite early to know for sure. i also just today changed my thyroid medication from .150 mcg of synthroid along with 6 mcg of cytomel (t3) twice daily 12.5 mcg daily (adding t3 with my synthriod was a huge improvement for weight management and depression), to 90mg of deccicated thyroid hormone derived from pigs. armour is not available in ontario canada so this is the alternative natural medication. i will add an update in a month or so to let you know if i feel improvements on the dessicated thyroid. for the chronic itching and idiopathic hives i have found releif with taking 500mg of the herb quercetin but it must be taken along with at least 500mg of vitamin c, i take the non-acidic stomache friendly type (has bioflavonoids) to anyone suffering with this chronic itching "this really works" for me, if i dont take it for a few days the itching is ridiculous. I too "WAS" a very energetic go-getter type of person. i loved physical activity. now i fell like a lump. my body throbs within an hour of activity. what i used to do in a day takes me a week to accomplish. i am much too young for this, and i just want my old self back. i will keep in touch. if anyone feels they need for further information or questions feel free to email me directly....liesadegroot@hotmail.com

Hi all,
I am also hypothyroid. I had a terrible time with being diagnosed as I live in a rural area and the doctor I was going to apparently did not understand thyroid issues. My firstTSH test was 3.1, second test was 4.7. She kept saying it was normal, yet I had many of the symptoms and a mother and brother who were hypo. Last time she tested it was 10.2! and she still wanted to wait and redo the test in another 2 weeks! I had had enough! I changed doctors and thankfully the new doctor went into action immediately. He wrote me a prescription for Synthroid and wrote on the script for the medication to be cross referenced for corn products by the pharmacy because I also have a severe allergy to corn (so bad that I can not attend a movie because the popcorn in the air induces an asthma like attack). They filled the prescription but missed the fact that synthroid has confectioner's sugar in it. Confectioner's sugar is laced with a small amount cornstarch (but not required to be labeled as such) to keep it from clumping. I took the pills as prescribed for nearly a week. The first day I felt better, second even good (for the first time in a long long time) , but as the days went by I started feeling badly...aching... having trouble focusing...and then having trouble breathing. It was at that point I realized that it was as if I was being exposed to corn products. It is a puzzling thing about allergies, but dependent on what the allergy is and how you are exposed , it may take time for it to build up in the body or you may have an immediate reaction. This is the way the corn allergy is for me, if ingested it takes time but if breathed it is almost immediate. So I realized that I had to investigated synthroid and that's when I found out that it has cornstarch in it. I called my doctor and reported what was happening and he immediately took me off the synthroid and put me on levoxyl ( a generic that does not contain corn products). After that I felt much better, but ocassionally I have would have days that are awful (headaches, aching, cold, tired,etc.). Now, those bad days are more frequent again. I believe that I need to be tested again to see if my thyroid medication needs to be increased again. It seems to me from reading here that will be an ongoing thing. I mean that you level out on a particular dose and then later start feeling bad again...back to doctor for an increased doseage...feel better again and so on. But back to my point...it may indeed be that you are allegric to synthroid and maybe you should ask to try a generic that has different inactive ingredients. My doctor really wanted me to take snythroid because he believes that its potency is better regulated, but I just can not take it. It maybe that you will have a hard time convincing your doctor to let you try a generic, but don't give up. I have changed doctors so many times simply because they don't believe that I am allergic to corn. BUT my allergist and I KNOW the truth. Good luck to you all.

Eye lid irritation & swelling: After treatment for Graves Disease 12 years ago (radioactive iodine), started on Synthroid. I have been on .100mg for several years now, however for the past year, I think I may have developed an allergy to the Synthroid - my eye lids are all swollen, puffy w terrible scaling skin, also deep red circles under my eyes. I started cutting the pills in 1/2, then 1/2 again, so basically I was getting about .75mg and the swelling and scaling has seemed to be much less, but I don't think the dose is enough for me, since I do feel more tired. I have suspected that maybe I am allergic to the synthroid or the dye, so it is good to see that others may have the same problem, since doctors don't always believe us. Has anyone else ever experienced this problem? Thanks for this great site!

I have had the same symptoms, weakness, muscle and bone aches. I do not know if it is from the syntroid, or just being hypothyroid. And I itch, too, like crazy. I only take .05 mg, so that's not much but it works for me.